5. Can an environmental management system be a driving force for sustainability in higher education? A case from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden

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1 5. Can an environmental management system be a driving force for sustainability in higher education? A case from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden Eddi Omrcen, Ullika Lundgren and Marianne Dalbro This chapter presents a case study of the University of Gothenburg and how it proceeded in the implementation of an environmental management system (EMS). The University of Gothenburg was one of the first universities to develop and implement an EMS according to both the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (14001: 2004) and the Eco Management Audit Scheme (EMAS, European standard). Due to their high societal impact, universities are challenged to take a leadership role in sustainability issues. As universities educate the next generation of decision- makers and influencers, universities can have a vastly greater impact on sustainable development than any other single sector of society (Chambers, 2009). With this aim we explore how sustainable development can be integrated in higher education institutions and how EMS can improve campus sustainability. Our main issue is can an EMS be a driving force for sustainability in higher education? To achieve this we shall describe the implementation process of an EMS, and how it develops and improves over time. We shall also stress the importance that the EMS results in improved environmental performance. The authors of this chapter have participated in the process of developing and implementing the EMS at the University of Gothenburg. The text is mainly based on the authors own reflections, analyses and experiences. It is also based on the conclusions and results from a Master s thesis by students at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg (Olausson and Roos, 2008). This chapter first provides a brief overview on the literature on the 88 M KONIG PRINT.indd 88 27/06/ :55

2 Environmental management for HE sustainability 89 relation of EMS and integrating sustainable development as an explicit remit in universities. Section 5.1 describes how the EMS and sustainable development were first introduced to the University of Gothenburg, and briefly outlines the activities in education, research, operations and community outreach already related to the environment or sustainability before the EMS was first implemented. Section 5.2 provides a more detailed discussion of the implementation of the EMS and Section 5.3 details subsequent changes and developments in education, research, operations and community engagement with respect to sustainable development. Section 5.4 provides succinct recommendations to policy- and decision- makers and the concluding section critically discusses evidence and suggests a causal relationship between the implementation of the EMS and these changes. The University of Gothenburg has approximately students and 5900 employees. It is one of the major universities in northern Europe. The university s roughly 40 different departments cover most scientific disciplines, making it one of Sweden s broadest and most wide- ranging higher education institutions. It offers 2500 courses and more than 150 programmes in ten different areas. In an international perspective too, the University of Gothenburg is comprehensive, with cutting- edge research in a number of dynamic research areas. Cooperation with Chalmers University of Technology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, society at large and trade and industry have been consistently strengthened and intensified over recent years, as have international contacts and collaborative projects with partners abroad. This chapter will detail how environmental management and sustainable development became increasingly represented with in the totality of research and study programmes as well as operations and community outreach after the EMS was first adopted in THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN FOSTERING SUSTAINABILITY IN UNIVERSITIES An EMS provides a systematic way of managing an organization s environmental issues and is based on a Plan- Do- Check- Act (PDCA) model developed by Edwards Deming in the 1950s. The EMS gives order and consistency for organizations to address environmental concerns through a systematic approach, the allocation of resources, assignment of responsibility and ongoing evaluation of practices, procedures and processes (Figure 5.1). The guiding principle of an EMS is continual environmental M KONIG PRINT.indd 89 27/06/ :55

3 90 Regenerative sustainable development of universities and cities Plan Environmental policies, Objectives and targets, legal register, significant aspects and impacts Act Management review, implement corrective actions and improvements Reduced environmental impact Continual improvements Do Procedures, document control, staff training and communication Check Internal monitoring and auditing. Report the results Source: University of Gothenburg, based on Almgren and Brorson (2007). Figure 5.1 Plan- Do- Check- Act (PDCA) model improvement and the EMS serves as a tool to improve environmental performance. The two most well- known standards for environmental management are ISO and EMAS (European standard). Both standards are based on the PDCA cycle and continual improvements. One main difference is that EMAS requires a public report of the environmental results (ISO 14001: 2004 and European Union (2009), Regulation 1221). The purposes of an EMS are reduced environmental impact, better resource management and development of routines for cost control, audits and permissions. The organization also gets a better overview over the fulfilment of environmental legislation, gains better relations to authorities and society and reduces risks for accidents, legal problems and claim for damages. Other benefits from the EMS are better and stronger image, competitive strength, increased market shares (students, research grants) and increased credibility. A certified EMS is not a necessity for an active environmental work, but it gives an added value. The EMS creates a structured, systematic and goal- directed process within the organization. M KONIG PRINT.indd 90 27/06/ :55

4 Environmental management for HE sustainability 91 According to Disterheft et al. (2012), EMSs have been implemented on a large scale to improve companies environmental performance and to certify their achievements. Although these tools have primarily been used by industries and corporations in the private sector, more recently organizations in the public sector and educational institutions such as universities have begun to use this certification process as well. They aim to reduce their environmental impact and, with special regard to universities, to embrace the environmental imperative, as named by several authors, and to integrate sustainability systemically into higher education institutions (Adomssent et al., 2008; Cortese, 2003; Hansen and Lehmann, 2006; Lozano, 2006; Sharp. 2002; van Weenen, 2000). According to Cortese (2003), a university system consists of four dimensions, namely education, research, university operations and external community, which have often been seen as separate, based on hierarchical and competitive structures. But in order to develop a vision for a sustainable campus, he argues that it is necessary to understand the interdependence among these dimensions and to increase the collaboration between them, as all parts are critical to achieving a transformative change (Cortese, 2003, p. 15). Lozano (2006) adds a fifth dimension of Assessment and Reporting that should be considered in an ongoing manner. A range of case studies have shown that EMS at the campus can be used in a broader sense beyond campus operations, blending also the dimensions of education, research, relationship with stakeholders, identified by Cortese (2003) as well as the continuous strive for improvement through assessment and reporting, identified by Lozano (2006) (see Ferreira et al., 2006; Nicolaides, 2006; Sammalisto and Brorson, 2008). Firstly, universities are called on to reduce their environmental impact as operating institutions, caused through direct activities. Secondly, they are called on to carry out research and teaching in the field of sustainability, and on creating settings that allow students and staff to develop new competencies that lead to more sustainable practices and finally to a more sustainable society (Alshuwaikait and Abubakar, 2008). Disterheft et al. (2012) state that a general increase of EMS implementation in universities can be registered. However, only 11 out of 47 universities in their study indicated having linked the campus EMS to curriculum- related activities (Disterheft et al., 2012). This does not necessarily mean that the universities do not have further curricular activities related to sustainable development, but it can be concluded that there is still a lot of potential to revise and green the curriculum. For successful implementation of environmental management, it is essential that management accepts and legitimizes the work. Sammalisto (2007) argues that top management has a key position in the change M KONIG PRINT.indd 91 27/06/ :55

5 92 Regenerative sustainable development of universities and cities towards sustainable development. Management should have a vision of the future development, an understanding of sustainable development and provide the necessary support. The view is that the management front, the decisions they make and what resources they make available will drive the development process in different direction. Professional bureaucracy is a term that usually applies to organizations such as universities and other school systems. Characteristic of the professional bureaucracy is double hierarchies with employees who have a high level of education that gives them the ability to work without supervision. Because they have a high level of education, such as professors in their field, they require control over their own work without interference. In universities mechanisms for the protection of the autonomy of academic research are often in place, therefore quality control and cooperation can be more difficult in such a culture. A professional bureaucracy is a decentralized organization, which is focused on the operational work. The administration works as a service to the professional activities. The organization can react with reluctance to changes and act conservatively. A change that is based on cooperation and interest, without external controls, and introduced slowly is therefore preferable. Lack of understanding of the professional bureaucracy and lack of knowledge about the environment can hinder the work. At a university, the vice chancellor and other managers do not have the same authority as a business chief executive officer (CEO) (Mintzberg, 1993). A top- down approach may be less time- consuming, more focused on the improvement of operational environmental performance and oriented towards compliance with regulations and administrative requirements, whereas a participatory approach applies a more systemic perspective that allows the development of new teaching and learning settings. While being more resource- intensive regarding time and staff, a participatory approach focuses on empowerment, combining the provision of technical and analytical skills with the creation of understanding and awareness in order to achieve not only a better environmental performance but better incorporation of sustainable development taken as a whole (Disterheft et al., 2012). 5.2 ACCOUNT OF THE ACTUAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EMS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG In this section the results from the implementation process are presented. The focus is on organizational and management improvements and M KONIG PRINT.indd 92 27/06/ :55

6 Environmental management for HE sustainability 93 environmental performance improvements. In 1996 a number of government agencies in Sweden were assigned by the government to participate in the project Environmental management in public administration to develop an EMS and actively work with environmental issues. There was interest within the university to participate in the project and the University of Gothenburg at the end of 1997 decided to introduce an EMS and the work with the implementation began in The plan was to get the certificate by the end of 2000, with a bottom- up (participatory) approach. Before the university received the governmental commission to implement an EMS, there was no division of responsibility for environmental issues or a systematic way of working. When the assignment came, it meant that an environmental organization started to build up. The first environmental coordination group that was founded within the university did not have the authority to pursue issues in the departments, which meant that the environmental manager had to work on behalf of all 120 environmental representatives. That was a strategy with high physical presence but hard to manage due to the large numbers of representatives. s and a website became some of the most important channels of communication Management and Organization In 2001 the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology started a cooperation platform for sustainable development and environmental research projects the Centre for Environment and Sustainability (GMV). GMV involves all faculties and departments at both universities as it is now widely realized that cooperation between different research areas is needed for universities seeking to contribute to sustainable development. In 2003 the university created a middle management level for environmental work, which later could be defined as key to the successful implementation of the EMS. The middle management level included faculties, with deans and environmental coordinators appointed by the faculties themselves. Faculties got more responsibility for environmental work, which made them more involved and proactive in environmental management. The environmental coordinators got the responsibility to coordinate the activities and communication with the environmental representatives in each department. Anchoring work at the departments mainly went through environmental representatives (Figure 5.2). As documents that clarified the responsibilities and commission to the faculties were set flexibility, they were created both at central and faculty M KONIG PRINT.indd 93 27/06/ :55

7 94 Regenerative sustainable development of universities and cities Vice Chancellor Environmental unit Dean (faculty) The faculty environmental coordinator Head of department Environmental representative Source: University of Gothenburg. Figure 5.2 The University of Gothenburg organizational chart levels. Some decisions are taken at a central level while others are taken at each faculty. The vice chancellor and the deans have responsibility for decisions regarding the EMS, which has been made clear in the policy on the delegation of authority for several years. The vice chancellor takes formal decisions and is responsible for resource allocation while the environmental manager has overall responsibility and a relative big maneuver. The faculties environmental coordinators have the authority to manage the EMS at each faculty and at the departments the heads of each department are responsible while the environmental representatives coordinate the work. One important part of the work in this process was the fact that the university followed a given standard, ISO 14001, which demands clarity about organization and responsibility. A council was created with environmental functions comprising a manager, controller, auditor, coordinators from the faculties and a student representative. The purpose of the council was to exchange knowledge and experience between faculties and discuss the ongoing environmental management implementation. This council prepared questions about the university s environmental objectives, programmes, environmental impact, environmental audits and a handbook. This is still an important forum for coordinating and anchoring issues about the EMS at the University of Gothenburg. An important change was the establishment of the Environmental Unit in 2004 with its environmental manager that gave the environmental work clear legitimacy. The Environmental Unit was established as part of the M KONIG PRINT.indd 94 27/06/ :55

8 Environmental management for HE sustainability 95 central administration. Today, the Environmental Unit has overall responsibility for environmental aspects and also that the EMS is maintained in accordance with the requirements of ISO The Environmental Unit also has the responsibility to report on EMS performance, monitor environmental objectives and follow up the programme. Since 1997 three consecutive vice chancellors have been committed to the environmental work. The current acting Vice Chancellor Pam Fredman has strongly supported the development of the EMS and, for example, has taken part in three short films about the sustainable university. She has reinforced the EMS as an aspect of the organization s identity, and clearly stated that environmental consideration should be obvious for every employee and every student. Everyone who leaves here must take an environmental awareness with them, regardless of whether they will be working on environmental issues or not (Pam Fredman, Vice Chancellor of the University of Gothenburg). Among the management, that is, deans and heads of departments, environmental concern has come to be considered a quality aspect. Regarding objectives, measurements and continuous improvements concerning research, education and outreach, the focus has shifted over time from environmental issues to sustainability issues including overall views on social conduct and economic awareness. One reason for this shift is the diversity within the university with research and education covering different aspects of sustainable development. This process was supported by the change in the Swedish Act of Higher Education that states that all universities should promote sustainability issues in all their activities. In 2007 all faculties got a commission to make a plan for integrating sustainability into all education as part of the action plan for environment and sustainable development. Sustainable development has become a strategic issue at the University of Gothenburg and has been included in all policy documents, such as visions and strategic plans, since The content in these policy documents has been integrated into the action plan for environment and sustainable development. To further enhance the integration of social and economic aspects of sustainability, the university signed the United Nations (UN) Global Compact and applies the International Labour Organization s core conventions in procurements The Systematic Process of the EMS Since the beginning of the implementation of the EMS several vital steps in the procedures have developed, been adapted and changed. The vision, the environmental policy, has been revised through the years but M KONIG PRINT.indd 95 27/06/ :55

9 96 Regenerative sustainable development of universities and cities the overall aim of the environmental work has never been questioned. Environmental aspects for the entire university were revised every third year. This was performed through the environmental coordinators council at faculty level. Objectives were also revised every third year and a programme established. The programme clearly states the responsibility for every faculty and department to work with assignments according to their own abilities and encourage them to plan their own objectives as well. To gather the different elements of the EMS in one place, an environmental handbook was created. The handbook contained, and still contains, all procedures that are set up to ensure that the activities within the university are not infringing environmental legislation. The procedures should answer what do we do, how do we do it and who does it? The environmental handbook provides instructions in different areas such as chemicals and purchasing. Given the university s diversified activities, it is important to have some flexibility in an environmental handbook covering all faculties and departments. It has therefore been possible to adapt the handbook to fit each faculty based on the framework given by the Environmental Unit. In this way it was possible for the School of Business, Economics and Law to address environmental work in one direction while the Faculty of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, had a different focus. The University of Gothenburg made a choice early in the process to make the environmental handbook available to all students and staff on the web. Staff training has always been important for sharing information and knowledge of the EMS. The courses and seminars from the beginning had a focus on basic environmental issues, such as global warming and acidification but were later adapted to programmes that had a connection to the daily work within the university, such as chemical handling, business travels and procurement. To further deepen the understanding of environmental management a course was introduced for employees to learn how the EMS is built up and what is expected of them. The University of Gothenburg is stated to be a multi- site city university. Audits are conducted at all departments during a three- year period to ensure that the EMS is implemented at all levels. Audits are performed by internal auditors and external professionels yearly. A team of internal environmental auditors has been trained within the university and they perform ten audits a year in total. According to EMAS, a registered organization shall publicly report its environmental performance each year. After some years the reporting from the university became a sustainability report involving the Enviromental Unit, the Division of Human Resources and the Division of Finance. In 2009 a new regulation within M KONIG PRINT.indd 96 27/06/ :55

10 Environmental management for HE sustainability 97 Swedish legislation was founded, according to which all state authorities should implement an EMS and report its performance to the Swedish government. Thus, another set of tools for performance evaluation was created. Since the university had early on involved economic and social values in its reporting, the next step was to report according to the guidelines of the Global Reporing Initiative (GRI). As one of the few universities in the world the University of Gothenburg was approved by GRI for its reporting in One of the most vital steps within the management system is to report its performance to the University Management. The sustainability report is presented to the university board annually and twice a year the performance is presented, dicussed and evaluated with the vice chancellor and the head of administration according to the demands of ISO The aim is to evaluate if the system is adapted, sized, designed and well functioning for the operations of the university. If not, decisions about needed changes are the outcome of these management reviews The Certification Process During a couple of years before the university was certified, a dialogue was held with the certification company about how the university should work towards a certification and responsible persons were employed to prepare and start the process. The building up of the EMS has followed the ISO standard with programmes, evaluations and audits. The time schedule was tight from the beginning with a goal that the whole university should be certified within two years. Gradually it was clear that the process was more complex and extensive and was delayed because the Environmental Unit at the same time worked with operational issues such as energy efficiency, waste management, chemical handling and so on. The resistance against the EMS and the certification process at the University of Gothenburg was both active and passive and occurred partly because employees in the beginning were uninformed about the EMS and did not have knowledge about the situation. Objections to the EMS were based mainly on the high costs the implementation would entail. As time passed, more and more employees turned positive to the venture and realized that the EMS in place could mean reduced spending. During the implementation phase criticism was raised that the EMS would intrude on people s habits and some employees were afraid about losing their autonomy. It took time to make employees understand that the EMS benefits the university. A way to handle this was to point out that the EMS would help the university to not infringe on legislation. M KONIG PRINT.indd 97 27/06/ :55

11 98 Regenerative sustainable development of universities and cities Another strategy was to invite researchers with different perspectives and opinions to give their views on the management of various environmental problems. For example, by letting critics say what they think about waste management, and then allowing another researcher to show how the university would benefit by taking another solution, greater understanding of the context has been obtained. The University of Gothenburg is an open university and there should be opportunity for discussion and critical review, which is the cornerstone both in research and teaching. The certification process meant that some units would be test pilots and go ahead of the rest of the university. The chosen units were the University Management and the Central Administration, the School of Business, Economics and Law and two smaller units within the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts. These units were all positive to a certification and saw benefits with their participation. It was important that they were certified and their working process was analysed to take the next step to get the whole university certified according to ISO All costs due to the certification, such as internal and external audits and diplomas, were paid with strategic funding to support these units. When the first units were certified in January 2004, the University Management discussed future opportunities to certify the whole university. Some people had the opinion that it was possible in 2008, at the earliest; maybe in 2010 under the condition that some complex faculties, for example, the Faculty of Medicine, were excluded. That could have been the end of the certification project at the University of Gothenburg but after a discussion, another option was chosen: to raise the ambitions and set a tight deadline. A goal that the whole university should be certified by 2005 was written into the programme. This programme was set for the years and became a driving force to determine what questions the university should work with. The decision to certify the whole university became a mega objective that all departments worked towards. The upcoming implementation was based on the experiences from the pilot units. The pilot system was educative but a different strategy had to be used to get the rest of the university certified. A decision was taken that no individual departments would be certified. Instead this was made on a faculty level and all remaining faculties should finish the implementation at the same time. This started a competitive situation between the faculties about who would get certified first. In January 2006, the whole University of Gothenburg was certified according to ISO and EMAS. M KONIG PRINT.indd 98 27/06/ :55

12 Environmental management for HE sustainability ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS The overall aim with an EMS must be decreasing negative impact on the environment from the organization s operations. That is also a demand in ISO 14001, that is, continual improvement. All adjustments of the system must be aimed in that direction. The University of Gothenburg chose to target all its significant environmental aspects, which has proved to be feasible, yet at times a bit too much to grasp at the same time Research Impact from research on society can be of utter importance and is defined by the university together with education as the most important positive significant environmental aspects. From the start of the implementation process the university set out a broad objective concerning research and sustainability. The current formulation is The University will increase the amount of research in sustainable development. Well aware of the difficulty of controlling the research process and results, the formulation still is an important signal to the faculties to include core activities into the EMS process. The university s research in sustainable development has increased in recent years, mostly due to researchers having defined their areas of research as part of the research in sustainable development. Several funders of research have also focused their funding on the areas of sustainable development. Several faculties have identified researchers who are active in sustainable development and have used these as examples of best practice. GMV has a vital part in supporting faculties and researchers, that is, each year GMV has had several commissions in the university s action plan for environment and sustainability. The university library, together with GMV, has developed bibliometric methods for measuring the number of scientific articles in the area of sustainable development. An inventory by GMV in showed that around 30 per cent of the university s research takes place in the area of sustainable development. GMV has succeeded in establishing a platform for interdisciplinary research projects and researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg. The GMV research network comprises about 500 members from all faculties at both universities and about 500 representatives from industry, local authorities and other environmental organizations. At the University of Gothenburg, there are researchers and teachers M KONIG PRINT.indd 99 27/06/ :55

13 100 Regenerative sustainable development of universities and cities working in all three dimensions of sustainable development (social, economic and ecological sustainability). They contribute with a lot of knowledge to the internal environmental work and participate in seminars and discussions in various areas. As part of the university s climate strategy, a climate council has been formed. The council consists of researchers from all disciplines and is, for example, participating in setting objectives, discussing principles for climate offsetting and climate seminars Education Another important positive significant environmental aspect is education. From the start of the implementation process the university set up a broad objective concerning education and sustainability. The current formulation is The University will increase the integration of sustainable development into education. The formulation is an important signal to the faculties to include sustainable aspects in the development of curricula. According to an amendment in the Swedish Act of Higher Education from 2006, all universities should promote sustainability issues in all activities. As a consequence, all faculties got a commission to make a plan for integrating sustainability into all education. The university has also arranged training for teachers in how to integrate sustainable development in teaching. The integration is made visible through a sustainability label on courses and programmes offered at the University of Gothenburg. The student department and GMV have had several commissions in the university s action plan for integrating environment and sustainability in education. For example, GMV has supported those responsible for programmes and courses in increasing the integration of sustainable development. The student department has included sustainable development issues in reporting to the university educational database, and highlighted the results in course catalogues and on Internet pages. Two programmes are offered at the University of Gothenburg in environmental science, one in social science and one in natural science. Several postgraduate research schools have been initiated, such as Climate and mobility ( ), Environment and health (2008) and Marine environmental science (2012) Outreach The Environmental Unit produced a handbook for the Swedish Environment Protection Agency about environmental management in state authorities. The university has given seminars and lectures to different authorities about environmental audits and trained staff to be internal M KONIG PRINT.indd /06/ :55

14 Environmental management for HE sustainability 101 auditors. The university has also become an actor on the international scene; it takes part in the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN), has formed a Nordic equivalent to ISCN and plays an active role in Environmental Management in Sustainable Universities (EMSU)). The environmental controller at the University of Gothenburg participates as a technical expert in the international committee that is revising the standard ISO The outreach to companies, organizations, city and schools is extensive. Every year more than 500 public events concerned with environment and sustainability issues are offered. A very popular event is Global Week, which has a focus on globalization and sustainable development Staff Training Over ten years staff have been offered a large number of various courses, seminars and training in environmental knowledge and awareness in a wide range of subjects. Special theme days on chemicals and laboratory equipment, on travels and on green offices are continuously offered. The Environmental Unit made three short movies that were published on the website. Environmental representatives, coordinators and managers are regularly offered training, general as well as specific. The university arranges debates on various themes connected with sustainable development Operations One focus of the operational strategy at the University of Gothenburg is reducing the emissions of carbon dioxide from travels and energy use. The university set up a new policy for meetings and travels with the purpose of facilitating meetings without having to travel. The difficulty has been balancing an ambition of high presence on the international scene, which requires air travel, and a concern about lowering carbon emissions. Since the university does not own its own buildings it has been necessary, with good cooperation with the property owners, to start up and facilitate energy projects in order to lower energy consumption. A policy for buildings has been established in order to take considerations about sustainability early in the construction processes. Purchasing is a vital component of environmental concerns and cooperation between the Department of Purchase and Procurement and the Environmental Unit was established in the beginning. The units offered common training for staff in how to purchase with environmental demands. Through the years more demands in procurement have been M KONIG PRINT.indd /06/ :55

15 102 Regenerative sustainable development of universities and cities stated and the university now makes demands on social and ethical aspects as well, according to corporate social responsibility guidelines. Environmental work in recent years in the area of waste and separation has resulted in improved separation of waste throughout the university. Today, there is a university- wide waste plan that is updated annually and there are waste separation guides for each building. In all departments waste is sorted in special recycling containers and particular care is given to dealing with hazardous waste from laboratories and workshops. Over six years the total amount of waste was halved, which also means a lower cost for the university. Since the university obtained environmental certification, the routines for, and follow up of, the handling of chemicals in laboratory activity has improved. Work on introducing the chemicals register system KLARA began in 2004, and the system has now been fully implemented in the university s operations. Existing chemicals are listed and registered in KLARA for the purpose of monitoring the use of chemicals and substituting the most hazardous. The university develops environmentally sound laboratory methods, which generally mean substitution of a hazardous chemical or reductions in volumes of chemicals in experiments. The university also takes an active part in the National Substitution Group (NSG). 5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS AND GUIDANCE In this section recommendations and guidance on how other organizations can implement an EMS are presented. Before the implementation it is vital that management and staff are well informed about what the management system means in terms of effort and time. Be as clear as possible when informing about the implementation process and how it will affect the employees working situation but don t forget to declare the positive aspects with the EMS. The management must be actively supportive to use employees that have a positive attitude as key persons in the process might influence others. Use pilot units to get experiences that can be useful in the following implementation process. Select one or more responsible persons for the environmental management work and create a support organization for the EMS. Build an organization with environmental representatives in each department and create a forum for the environmental management work that includes both faculties and students. Communicate by physical presence at meetings, discussions and seminars from the start. This has the best effect for changing people s behaviour. M KONIG PRINT.indd /06/ :55

16 Environmental management for HE sustainability 103 During implementation it is necessary to give time and funding to the environmental management work and give the manoeuvrability that is needed. Decide upon milestones and the final goal. It is vital to get all parties involved, using both top- down and bottom- up strategies. Avoid forced decisions and actions. Let the implementation take the time it needs and work gradually so the employees get a chance to adapt. Inform the whole organization of the progress that is made. Communicate by physical presence at meetings, discussions and seminars during the whole implementation phase and use websites and to spread information. Declare the positive aspects with the EMS, especially the economic, when communicating. Create a forum for collaboration and exchange of experiences and implement training for all employees and adapt it to different professions. Basic environmental education should be given to all new employees. Make sure that each faculty is responsible for its own environmental work and that the EMS is adapted to the work according to the different faculties and as new experiences are made. Include the EMS in formal documents and assignments and create a handbook as a help for employees. Start early with monitoring and audits and give feedback on the results. After implementation the communication and anchoring work of the EMS must continue so employees feel involved in the work with the EMS. Continue to offer environmental education for employees, basic environmental education should be mandatory for all new employees. The management should have continuous information about the EMS and be assured that continuous improvements are made by working with objectives and action plans that are regularly evaluated. Continue to declare the positive aspects of having an EMS and use the organization as a good example for others. Increase the integration of sustainability in research and education. Continue with environmental audits. 5.5 CONCLUSIONS Our main issue is Can an EMS be a driving force for sustainability in higher education? Our conclusion is that an EMS can and should be a driving force for sustainability in higher education but requires a solid change process at all levels within the organization, a strong commitment from top management, a dedicated project team and committed key persons in faculties and departments. Communication via physical presence has been a priority for the Environmental Unit since the beginning of the process but high physical M KONIG PRINT.indd /06/ :55

17 104 Regenerative sustainable development of universities and cities presence was hard to manage due to the large numbers of representatives. The implementation of environmental management must be aligned with academic activities. A good understanding of university culture is a prerequisite for successful implementation. A top- down approach combined with a participatory approach is necessary as recommended by Disterheft et al. (2012). But the key might even be in a third approach, the middle management approach. According to Cortese (2003), a university system consists of four dimensions, namely Education, Research, University Operations and External Community, which have often been seen as separate, based on hierarchical and competitive structures. But in order to develop a vision for a sustainable campus, he argues that it is necessary to understand the interdependence among these dimensions and to increase the collaboration between them, as all parts are critical for achieving a transformative change. Another conclusion is that the overall aim of an EMS must be decreasing the negative impact on the environment from the organization s operations. That is also a demand in ISO 14001, continual improvement. All adjustments of the system must be aiming in that direction. Other experiences are the importance of integrating development of the system with concrete environmental actions, having the right persons in the right positions and to reuse professional competences. Lozano (2006) adds a fifth dimension Assessment and Reporting that should be considered in an ongoing manner. Our experience is that environmental audits and environmental/sustainability reports are of great importance for both internal and external communication. Internal and external audits have ensured continuous improvements, which is a key factor in ISO and EMAS. Through a systematic and documented process, management as well as employees have become more aware of which aspects and areas that need to be improved. By reviewing objectives and programmes in an annual sustainability report, the results have been made visible for management, employees and the surrounding society. Based on both positive and negative results, the objectives, and the governance of these, could be developed through various initiatives, that is, environmental graduate schools and the university climate strategy. Our conclusion is that environmental audits and reports have helped us to ensure our ambition If we measure it, we can manage it. Our final conclusion is coherent with Cortese, that the EMS at the University of Gothenburg has been valuable in a broader sense, beyond operational aspects, the EMS affects education, research as well as outreach. EMS can, and should, be a strong driving force for sustainability in higher education. M KONIG PRINT.indd /06/ :55

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